It stands to reason that most of us would think we actually turn off our appliances, gadgets and electronics when we request that of them. However, this is often not the case.

Phantom loads, energy/power vampires, idle currents, or “wall warts” continue to draw electrical current even in “off” modes. Our cell phone chargers, televisions, computers and all their peripherals, even microwaves or coffee makers with digital clocks are sucking electricity even if they are not plugged in to the device to be charged, or we consider them to be off.

In some cases, the amount of energy drawn is not small. Some plasma screen televisions can draw as much power in a standby mode as they can when being actively used.

It Adds Up

It might not sound like a significant concern at first, but phantom loads can account for 10-20 percent of your annual home energy bill, which could be looked at as a month’s worth of wasted electricity.

Eliminate Wasted Energy

A handy little device to help test which appliances and electronics are the biggest concern is an inexpensive Kill-a-Watt which will monitor the energy drawn when not in use. From there, you can purchase power strips for your bigger electricity users, like home entertainment systems or computers and all their peripheral accompaniments. It is much easier to turn everything off with a power strip than to unplug everything individually.

For those concerned with completely shutting off electronics that take a long time to reset, like satellite boxes, a Smart Power Strip has multiple outlets that can accommodate masters and their peripherals, sensing when the master (eg. computer, television) has turned off, it then cuts off power to the speakers, monitors, DVD, etc. This also gives you the ability to decide which electronic to plug in to which outlet, leaving on stand-by the things you want to remain ready for action.